Jason Scott

Microsoft Advertising has announced the appointment of Jason Scott as the new General Manager for Asia, in alignment to its move to strengthen its global leadership team. 

In his new capacity, Jason will lead in growing revenue and market share of display, search, ad networks and emerging assets for Microsoft Advertising, which includes online properties MSN, Windows Live, Office Live, XBOX, Bing, and more.

Previously based in Europe and then the United States, Jason was responsible for developing and executing Microsoft Advertising’s global agency strategy.  He had also been based in Sydney, Australia, as Commercial Director for ninemsn, where he managed the company’s commercial business and its national advertising sales and operations. 

Prior to joining Microsoft, Jason worked across several creative and media agencies around the world including GGT Advertising, CIA Media and EURO RSCG.


Steve Blakeman

Mediabrands announced the appointment of Steve Blakeman as Global Chief Integration Strategy Officer. Based in Singapore, Steve’s primary responsibility will be to strengthen the firm’s integrated offering for Mediabrands’ and McCannWorldgroup’s portfolio of global clients in Asia Pacific. Steve will also lead collaboration between the creative and media planning agencies, and activation partners to generate ideas aligned with our customer experience strategy.

As Chief Integration Strategy Officer, Steve will divide his time between responsibilities at Mediabrands and McCann Worldgroup. The immediate benefit for the global clients of both organizations is a truly integrated service offering and seamless collaboration across IPG companies.

Previously, Steve was Chief Strategy Officer, Mediabrands Asia Pacific and gained working experience over the past two decades in the telecommunications, consumer durables and electronics, as well as the automobile industry.

He has also served as Pan European Director of Strategy at Initiative, where he worked on the firm’s Unilever account and as Managing Director at CIA. Steve began his career at J Walter Thompson.


Lawrence Stevenson

Mediabrands Award-winning integrated agency iris Singapore has appointed Lawrence Stevenson as senior creative and Kim Lim as producer. Stevenson joins from TBWA and Lim joins following several years working at agencies including Y&R and Publicis and within the local film industry. Both join this week and will report in to creative director Tom Ormes.

The hires follow the launch of iris Singapore’s latest tongue-in-cheek initiative, its iQuit.com website, which it launched this week as part of a new recruitment drive. The site, which has the interface of a typical recruitment agency, allows those in the ad industry to create their own resignation letters using bespoke templates for all the main agencies, including Ogilvy, Publicis, Y&R, Saatchi & Saatchi, Grey and McCann Worldwide.

Kim Lim

Stevenson will begin work on activity for the agency’s clients Heineken, Johnnie Walker and adidas, while Lim will work across the agency’s key accounts. iris Singapore’s recent campaigns include the Heineken Office Chair Grand Prix, the Audi A8 launch in Singapore, and adidas Refresh.

iris’ Singapore operation, which launched in 2006 and serves as a strategic hub for Asia Pacific, is now 60-strong, making it one of the fastest growing agency networks in the region.


Chris Jenkins

Acision, a world leader in mobile data, announced the appointment of Chris Jenkins to the position of Executive Vice President and Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region. Based in Singapore, Chris will play a lead role in driving business growth for the Asia Pacific including the Japanese markets.

Prior to his appointment to the region, Chris was the executive vice president of Acision’s Mobile Data Charging Business Unit, and CMO for the company, where he led corporate marketing, the market development activities and helped deliver innovative charging solutions to the global mobile operator market.

With experience in the retail and technology sectors spanning 25 years, Chris has a wealth of experience in merger & acquisitions, marketing and developing growth markets. Chris has also held leadership positions with Openwave, Bytemobile and Ericsson.


James R. Hicks

Global Payments Inc. announced the appointment of James R. Hicks as President of Global Payments Asia Pacific.

Mr. Hicks has extensive payments industry experience, most recently serving as President of the company's Prague-based payment processing business in Central Europe. Previously, he also held responsibility for Global Payments' Canadian Product and Marketing functions as Vice President and Senior Vice President within Global Payments Canada.

Global Payments Asia-Pacific Limited currently provides merchants in eleven countries and territories across Asia with the card acceptance products, services and support they need to meet and exceed their business goals. The company is a strategic joint venture between Global Payments Inc. and HSBC and is the largest pan-Asian card processing company in the region, currently operating in Brunei, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Macau, Malaysia, the Maldives, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.


Media Monitors CEO John Croll and Brandtology CEO Eddie Chau exchange signed contracts

Media Monitors Acquires Majority Stake in Brandtology, a social media intelligence company. The acquisition strengthens Media Monitors' ability to provide the highest quality and most comprehensive suite of media intelligence services across the region and beyond. It is Media Monitors' first acquisition since being acquired by Quadrant on 1 July 2010, and represents significant opportunities for cross-selling across all markets. Brandtology will remain as a distinct brand within the Media Monitors Group.


China Mobile Limited and Vodafone Group Plc signed Strategic Co-operation Framework Agreement, which means that the two companies will continue their co-operation in areas including: Exchange of corporate management, technical and operational expertise; Enhanced Roaming Services; Multinational Customers; Green Technology; Network Roadmap Management, Joint Innovation and R&D, and Promotion of converged LTE technology and LTE terminal development, to improve competitiveness and influence on international organization, value chain and industry by partnership in management, technology and operation.

On behalf of each company, Mr. Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile Limited, and Mr. Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive of Vodafone Group Plc, signed the agreement at the China Mobile-Vodafone Strategic Co-operation Chairman/CEO Forum in Barcelona.


At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Polycom and Ericsson announced collaboration around an integrated end-to-end solution for hosted telepresence services that will enable telecom operators to deliver affordable, high-definition (HD) visual communications services to businesses and consumers.

During the event, Ericsson and Polycom previewed integration between the Ericsson IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) network and Polycom infrastructure and telepresence endpoints, in a first step for collaboration between the companies.

The collaboration between Polycom and Ericsson – driven by dispersed workforces, globalization, travel restrictions, and green workplaces – responds to the rising adoption rates and increasing customer demand across enterprises of all size, and will extend visual communications as a truly global mass market service. The new solutions are based on the standardized IMS technology, the same underlying technology used by telecom operators today.


Smaato, the leading mobile ad optimizer and mobile advertising company, announced the closing of a new institutional round of funding. Singapore’s EDBI led the $7 million round, with participation from existing shareholders including global private equity firm aeris CAPITAL. The new funds will help fuel Smaato’s international expansion, in particular to extend its presence in Asia from its Asian headquarters in Singapore.


SinoMedia Holding Limited announced that the the Group has signed a media agency agreement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of MediaCorp Pte Ltd to become the master advertising agent of MediaCorp TV channels (including Channel NewsAsia and other TV channels) in Mainland China.

The privately-owned media advertising operator will be responsible for the bid invitation, marketing, and sales of advertising resources for MediaCorp in mainland China. Whereas the partnership will broaden SinoMedia’s overseas media resources and enable them to provide high quality overseas advertising options for its customers in China, thereby diversifying their revenue streams.


mig33 announced the appointment of Chris Chandler as vice president, business development.

Chandler joins mig33 from Microsoft Corporation's Consumer & Online Division, and will spearhead mig33's expansion across mobile-first markets worldwide.

Chandler brings more than a decades' experience developing, marketing and distributing consumer services and content for web and mobile platforms. At Microsoft, Chandler managed the mobile services business of Windows Live and MSN across Southeast Asia including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. He has previously worked with Yahoo! as head of mobile products for Asia-Pacific where he co-developed the region's first business plan and developed the product strategy and roadmap for the newly formed business unit across China, India, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. He also served as Director of Operations at Mikoshi (Asia-Pacific) Pte Ltd, a boutique gaming developer/studio that produces multiplayer Java and SMS games for mobile phones.